What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger
by Myrtlesquirtle
Summary: This is the story of Daryl Dixon and his daughter, Anna who are trying to survive in the apocalypse.
1. Chapter 1

"Have you hear about this weird virus that's going around? Apparently it's exactly like the flu but different somehow. I heard that Jenna went home sick with it a couple days ago and no one has heard from her or her family since. Wonder what happened." My friend Megan and I have been wondering about Jenna ever since she went home. "I don't know. I'd go check on her but she lives so far away from me. Why don't you go see her since your place is pretty close to hers. It's a couple blocks away, right?" She rolled her eyes slightly. "You live the farthest away from the school and practically society. I'm surprised you haven't turned into a redneck. The sooner I can get you out of those woods and to the mall the better!" She laughed. She's been wanting to drag me into the mall for so long but I just hate the mall. It's so crowded and she'd make me buy everything in sight! The only reason she can do that herself is because she has enough money to do so along with her credit cards. "You know my dad would shoot me with his crossbow if he found out that I went to the mall and bought expensive clothes!" I giggled, somewhat serious. "Oh Anna, you and your family need to get out more! You can't stay out in the boonies forever!" We both laughed. She was right though that I've been wanting to experience city life even though I love being in the woods and hunting with my dad and uncle Merle. We made it to where we go our separate ways and said our goodbyes like always, never thinking that this would be our last.

"Dad! Uncle Merle! I'm home!" I yell as I kick my shoes off, going upstairs to my room. I got no reply so I guess they either went hunting or to the store. I sat down at my desk to do my homework. "Ugh, math" I mumbled, thinking that this will be hard without dad. I had to skip about seven questions because they were too hard for me to do on my own. I tried looking on the internet but it didn't really help me since the explanations were too complex. I noticed that it had begun to get dark out and neither dad or uncle Merle have come back. 'I'll wait a little longer before going out to look for them' I thought to myself, hoping they're okay. Suddenly I heard the front door open along with the sound of plastic bags meaning they went to the grocery store. The sounds of the plastic bags were accompanied by their yells. They've been fighting a lot more lately and it kind of scares me since they can get violent so I stayed upstairs in case it became physical. They were fighting about... me? Why would they be arguing about me?

"Anna! Come down here and help!" I jumped when uncle Merle yelled so suddenly. I slowly climbed down the stairs and saw tons of bags on the floor. I've never seen this much food in the house and a lot of it was canned which was kind of odd. "Are we stocking up for the winter or something?" I laughed but received no reply, not even a chuckle. I silently put the groceries away and had them all away when dad came in with the last of the bags. I hugged him, hoping to lighten the mood. "Hey dad can you help me with my-" "You ain't goin' to school tomorrow" He said quickly as he returned the hug. I looked at him confused. "What? Why not? I'm not sick or anything." I was one of those 'weird' kids who actually enjoyed going to school. "Well there's somethin' weird about this virus that's goin' round and we want you safe. So you ain't leavin' this house until they've found a vaccination or cure for this virus." Uncle Merle sighed, knowing that I'd be upset and I am. "We ain't leavin' the house either since we don't want to catch it and end up givin' it to you." Without saying anything, I stormed upstairs and slammed my door. They couldn't just keep me inside the house like it's a cage! This meant no more hunting, no more seeing Megan and no more doing anything relatively fun. The only fun thing in this house is having access to the computer but you can only be on the computer for so long!

About an hour later I heard a knock at my door. I was still mad so I didn't say anything and just stared at the ceiling. I heard my door open then close and my dad walking towards me. "I brought your dinner and it's your favourite!" I turned away from him, trying to resist the wonderful smell of the Alfredo sauce on the fettuccine noodles. I suddenly felt my dad's hand on my side 'He wouldn't... would he?' I thought to myself before he started tickling my side, causing me to burst into a fit of laughter. He turned me over and tickled my stomach, causing me to squirm and kick my legs. At this point my eyes were closed and tears were streaming down my face. Before I knew it, uncle Merle was tickling me too! "You traitor!" I barely managed to say in between my fits of laughter. Usually uncle Merle would tickle dad so that I could get to safety but not this time apparently. Dad never tells anyone that he's ticklish. I found out he was ticklish one day when I was little when I tried to wake him up on his birthday. He wouldn't wake up so I started poking him, causing him to burst into laughter.

By the end of it we were all laying on the floor laughing. My dinner had gone completely cold but I didn't really care. We all stood up and I hugged them both tightly "I love you so much!" I was no longer mad at them. They only want me safe and I'm happy that I'm with them. "We love you too" They both said as I grabbed the bowl of pasta and went downstairs to heat it up. After I finished eating, dad helped me with my homework even though I wouldn't be going back to school until this virus thing was figured out and I went to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

"I woke up to uncle Merle shaking me. It was really early in the morning considering that the sun was just rising. "Anna we need to pack and leave. Get up and pack what you need then grab some cans of food and find your bow and quiver. Once you've done all that meet us in your dad's truck." He spoke quickly and left my room. I didn't even have a chance to ask him what was going on. I looked out my window and I saw.. zombies? I started to panic, thinking that this had to be a dream. I saw the backpack that uncle Merle left for me so I packed what I needed along with some small sentimental items before going downstairs to put some cans of food and bottles of water in my pack. It was pretty heavy now but I could manage as long as nothing else was put in it. I found my bow and quiver along with some extra arrows and a hunting knife. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a gun. I grabbed it and hid it in my pack, knowing that dad or uncle Merle would probably kill me if they knew I had it so I'd have to keep it a secret.

"I ran outside to dad's truck and got in the back seat. The moment I closed the door we took off to go to the nearest gas station then to find somewhere safe. I wondered why we weren't staying in our house since it seems pretty safe but when I looked back what I saw scared me. Our house was now surrounded by those.. things! There had to be at least a hundred and as we drove away they started to follow which caused me to start panicking even more than I already was. "We're goin' to Atlanta since apparently it's safe. We've heard good things about it and we should be there in a few days or so." Dad said as he stared out the window. But knowing uncle Merle's sense of direction when driving, it could take a bit longer. We quickly arrived to the nearest gas station to find that most of the gas was still here so uncle Merle got as many cans of gas as possible. I got out of the truck to stretch my legs quickly since we'll probably be on the road for a while before I get to walk around again. I looked at uncle Merle's motorbike on the flatbed. I've always wanted to drive it and maybe I'll be able to since there isn't a law saying that I can't anymore! The thought got me all excited as I continued to stare at it in awe.

"Get back in the truck. I don't want those things seein' you" Dad came over and hugged me, kissing my head. He laughed as he noticed me looking at the motorbike. I hugged him tightly then froze as I saw one of those things coming up behind him. I quickly pulled out my knife and stabbed it in the forehead causing it to fall to the ground. Uncle Merle came running over to make sure we were okay and I was shaking like a leaf. That thing was going to bite dad's neck and the image of it opening its mouth to bite down on his neck just kept playing over and over in my mind. "Let's get goin'!" He said, noticing that I was panicking. I felt like I couldn't move so dad lifted me into the truck, putting the knife in my back pack for me. He got in the truck and we started driving towards the city. Dad started telling uncle Merle that the city might be too dangerous since it might be overrun but uncle Merle disagreed so now I'm stuck in a truck with two people practically yelling at the top of their lungs! "Do you ever stop fighting? This is the start of an apocalypse and the smart thing to do is to compromise or just come to a decision because if you keep butting heads we're just going to wind up dead!" I thought out loud and they seemed taken aback by my sudden outburst which thankfully, caused them to shut up.


	3. Chapter 3

We've been driving for two days and haven't found anywhere that's relatively safe. We barely made it out of our own neighborhood cause of all the 'walkers'. "The truck's overheatin'. I need to turn it off for a bit." Uncle Merle mumbled, obviously displeased. We sat there for what felt like forever until I suddenly got the urge to look out the window. What I saw made me burst into tears. There, walking towards the truck was Megan.. she was a walker. She started weakly banging on the truck door as she stared at me with her white, dead eyes. "D-Dad.." I squeaked as I crawled away from the window, trying my best not to stare into her eyes. He came into the back of the truck with me and held me close. "Don't look at her." Uncle Merle got out of the truck to put her out of her misery. I hid my face in dad's chest as he stabbed her through the eye. There wasn't even a sound when she fell and hit the ground, there was just silence. He came back inside and he was holding her necklace. My necklace technically since she stole it from me when we were little but I let her keep it anyways.

"Want this?" He asked and I nodded, taking it and putting it on. I missed this necklace but at least I got to see it every day at school since she never took it off. Now that I have it, it's like a little piece of her is physically with me. Dad got back in the passenger seat as uncle Merle started the truck and we set off to hopefully, find someplace to stay. Finally after another three days of driving we found an old abandoned house in the middle of nowhere that reminded me of our house. Uncle Merle searched the house for any walkers and it was safe. The windows were boarded up and the doors were secure so it would be a good place to stay for now considering we can't just drive forever.

I grabbed my backpack and went inside, my eyes immediately seeing more food. Someone must have left it! Dad closed the front door and locked it causing most of the light in the house to dissipate quickly. The windows provided very little to no light as they were boarded up tightly. We opened a can of what looked to be carrots and we each took a granola bar. It tasted heavenly and was the closest thing to a meal I've had in a while. Dad didn't eat very much though and he seemed on edge for some reason but I just thought that he was nervous and wanted to get going again. "Why don't you get some sleep. We'll wake you up later." Uncle Merle smiled at me, noticing the dark bags under my eyes and my exhausted expression. I haven't slept for so long since I've been too afraid to but now I feel genuinely safe enough to at least lay down for a bit. I walked over to a couch that was in the corner of the room and laid down, pulling one of the small decorative pillows under my head. "Goodnight" I mumbled before falling into a deep sleep.

I woke up hearing strange growling and hissing noises. Did an animal somehow get in the house? I quickly came out of my half asleep state as I recognized the noises. Walkers! I looked around to see their silhouettes through cracks in the boarded up windows. They had surrounded the house. "Dad!" I yelled, grabbing my backpack and the rest of the food and water that was on the kitchen table. I pulled out my bow and quiver just as dad and uncle Merle came rushing into the living room. "We have to get out now! When you get out just run and keep runnin', don't stop until you know that the walkers ain't followin' you." The walkers broke through the back door just as dad was shoving me through one of the windows he opened and cleared. "Go Anna!" He yelled, tears streaming down his face. As much as I wanted to scream 'no' back at him and stay, I knew that if I didn't leave I might be putting him in more danger. So I ran and ran, not looking back at the horrific scene that I left my uncle and dad in. I hadn't seen dad cry like that in a long time and it scared me.

I eventually had to stop and I had gotten far enough away from the house that the herd probably lost me. There was a lone walker coming towards me and I stabbed it over and over, in a fit of rage. I wanted to yell out but all I could do was keep stabbing it until I fell to the ground, crying uncontrollably, saying 'dad' over and over. I suddenly stopped crying, my mind yelling at me saying that I need to be strong. There's no room for crying in this world anymore so I just have to get stronger, whether I do that in a group or alone, I would do it. From now on, I will no longer be some innocent and weak 14 year old girl. I'm a Dixon and I need to start acting like one. Dixon's are tough, strong willed and not weak mentally or physically.


End file.
